Editor-in-chief culture, episode 4

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Culture of the Editor-in-Chief series. About everything shitowe. " Those who do not know what cycle it is and want to learn are referred to the first episode . The second is also worth a look , and the third is not at all .

Today really will be about what is "shitowe".

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When the Web 2.0 phenomenon started, I was overjoyed. - This is the full democratization of the internet - I thought then. A real change in the paradigm of interaction between website owners, journalists and their users, readers, which places the creation of media in the hands of the latter. This is the real incarnation of democracy - that's what I said at the time.

Stupid me Or at least a naive me. Nothing has spoiled the media, social life and democracy as much as social media. And if you think about it more deeply, then the social internet has not accomplished any of the hitherto optimistically promised changes, and has spoiled so much that in some respects it has taken us back a few generations.

Web 2.0 did not bring the predicted democratic upheaval in North Korea, did not eradicate discrimination against women in Iran, and did not even save Hong Kong from China's oppressive actions. Social media has not changed the status of ethnic and sexual minorities for the better; on the contrary - they changed for the worse. Social media did not equalize economic and social opportunities; on the contrary, they have deepened them. And if we accept what I wrote in the third episode of Culture - that our civilization develops only in one direction: from conservatism to liberalism - then Web 2.0 has thrown us into a hole where the most radical conservative hydra throws its many hideous heads.

Social media has brought a complete reevaluation of the concept of privacy and elevated technology companies to the name of extremely dangerous hegemons, headed by very dangerous narcissistic characters for the world. Instead of winning the promised greater freedom and civil liberties, they laid the foundations for the unbelievable scale of possible surveillance.

But that's nothing - the worst, absolutely the most shit thing is that they equate the voice of idiots with the wise.

The social internet has not made science and knowledge more common, but has diminished their value. He gave the voice foolish and uneducated and made them as loud (and even louder, about which in a moment) as erudites, professors and specialists. As a result, we have probably the largest crisis of authorities, including moral, scientific, legal and cultural, in modern history.

In Poland, the wise men are offended, who created the structures of the state and wrote the law after gaining full independence after 1989. History textbooks are rewritten to glorify mediocrity and engrave heroes. University environments, legal associations, and scientific circles are mockingly called Warsaw and Krakow. Those who succeed in business are called thieves.

Pseudoscience and superstitions are presented as equal, alternative versions of real science. The achievements of several hundred years of medicine are being undermined by medical hackers, which, in the case of the growing anti-vaccine movement, throws us a few generations back in the fight against infectious diseases. Technological progress is being held back by believers in conspiracy theory of history, which even leads to the physical destruction of mobile phone masts. Such phenomena last occurred at the beginning of the 19th century, when the Luddist movement destroyed industrial machines, thus protesting against the industrial revolution that would "kill life on Earth."

Of course, this translates into political ground. There are mediocrities that have never been able to get a vote before because they were naturally marginalized. Not only do they not respect the authorities who created the system and social values, but they want to artificially build new elites from similar mediocrities. As a result, we have a powerful world crisis, where hard work, years of sacrifices devoted to education and self-improvement, entrepreneurship and risk are underestimated.

What's more, smart people have no chance with mediocrity in the depths of social media. Because a wise man is someone who lives with the awareness of his own ignorance, in direct contact with countless restrictions. Even the great ancient philosopher Socrates, quoted in the works of Plato, arguing that the Earth is a sphere, stated: "I am not sure." To acquire and expand knowledge, one must have the courage to admit that what we consider to be certain can be false or naïve. Science is an act of humility - the rejection of blind faith in existing knowledge and own intuition.

There are no doubts. They are convinced of their arguments. They are loud, possessive and determined. It was the social internet that let them into the living rooms. Their voice is heard there, and the democratized structure of Web 2.0 makes them as important as the voice of professors and specialists.

I once said that the internet is the greatest invention in human history. I will continue to defend this thesis. Today, however, I have the impression that the internet, especially in the social dimension, is also the greatest threat to the natural, forged since the dawn of civilization, Western order, which is based on respect for knowledge, erudition, life experience and diligence.

Editor-in-chief culture, episode 4